It was a cold weekend here in Minnesota. We had hoped to go out geocaching, but the cold kept us indoors. It made me think about things to do on a snowy day. I sure found them.
I decided to take the fine tooth comb to my blog. I’ve posted before about valid code. Not only does this involve valid CSS and XHTML, but also links. Broken links are not allowed.
It’s hard to avoid altogether. Links get moved. Stories get dropped. You sell the painting that you linked to. Best practices dictates that you keep on top of your code. Being as it was a cold, snowy day, I decided to do just that. Photo by ktylerconk
Using the Broken Link Checker plug-in, I was able to identify any broken links. The tally shows up on your dashboard. You can view the broken links and decide on a course of action. For those non-recoverable links like old newstories, I deleted the link. For links that point to products that I still sell, I edited the post to make sure the link was valid.
Now for your code. First of all, if you’re in the market for a theme for your WordPress blog, do yourself a huge favor–select a blog that has valid CSS and XHTML. If you go to the WordPress extend section, on the left you can choose themes that have valid CSS and XHTML. Chances are if you select a theme in the latter, the CSS will naturally follow.
Then, test your blog. I like to start off with the CSS. For me, it’s easier to correct for one. If you’ve picked a valid CSS blog, there’s nothing more to do. Enter your blog address and do the check.
Next, comes the hard part. I won’t kid you. It’ll make you pull your hair out until you learn how it works. The validator site for XHMTL is not user friendly, user cordial, maybe. Be sure and check the More Options. Select the verbose output. Error messages are a bit more clearly explained.
Yup, there were errors. Errors are an opportunity to learn. As much as I like Windows Live Writer, it just puts too much bad code. Technorati tags show up as bad links. It tends to fall back on the older HTML code with the Flickr plugin, inserting attributes that are no longer considered valid. So, I dropped using Windows Live Writer and now use the FireFox plugin, ScribeFire. I find it easier to go back and forth from checking errors to writing.
How to avoid errors? One thing you might try is using a proper HTML editor. Many open source options exist. Look for one that will do validation as you go. What I do is create my post in ScribeFire, with all of my links to previous posts and its other bells and whistles. I then go to the source page denoted by <A>. I copy the code, paste it in my editor and let it check the code. HTML editors tend to more clear about the error.
Sure, it’s busy work, but if you’re looking for a project that will help your business and give you something to do on a snowy day, this is a good way to be productive.
Thanks, a very informative site here, i will definately be back.
cheers